Museum commemorates end to the First World War
Century-old black and white images of soldiers and battlefields filled the screen at the museum, as volunteers read news reports and letters sent from the frontlines, home to loved ones in St. Catharines.
And through the stories, told in the words of people who watched the horrors unfold during the final brutal years of the First World War, volunteers Irene and Armand Romagnoli, Brenda Schultz and Des Corran helped their audience in the darkened Burgoyne Room at St. Catharines Museum and Welland Canals Centre feel they were there experiencing the end of the Great War themselves.
“It’s just, we desperately want to bring history alive, so people don’t forget things,” said Irene Romagnoli, as the museum’s Stories from the Front production ended — the first of two events planned to commemorate the end of the First World War.
Schultz said the presentation — it was researched by museum staff members Adrian Petry, with Sarah Nixon and Laura Curtas — was structured to allow audience members to share the feeling of loss, as well as hope, that St. Catharines residents here and overseas may have experienced during the war.
“You’ll get something really sad, like ‘Do not stand by my grave and weep,’ followed by something a little lighter,” she said, adding period music helped set the mood.
Irene Romagnoli said several of the letters they read, reciting words written long ago by St. Catharines’ war heroes, were also included in cemetery tours the volunteers have been involved in for the past four years.
“These are characters we are extremely familiar with and having read these parts for four years, they sort of become a part of who we are,” she said.
On Nov. 30 the museum will host its second event to commemorate the anniversary — a 1918 Victory Party, featuring live jazz music, costumed actors, dance demonstrations and food and beverages — closing its Doing our Bit: WWI from St. Catharines to the Western Front exhibit.
It’s a 19-plus event that runs 8 p.m. to midnight. Tickets are $10 each, and can be purchased in advance by calling 905-984-8880 or at www.stcatharines.ca/eplay. Remaining tickets will be available for purchased at the door.